The Start Of The Regular Session

Since this issue went to the printer before the regular session started on February 3rd, I won’t be able to write on how things went at the outset. But I can venture a guess. Veteran legislative watchers have predicted that this session will be one of the most difficult in recent memory. There will be a tremendous number of very tough issues to be dealt with and most of them will be money-related. There will be some extremely difficult and politically sensitive matters that the Legislators won’t be able to put off to be dealt with in future sessions. Hopefully, all of the partisan politics that we have seen in recent sessions will be put aside so that the interests of the people of Alabama can be better served. Frankly, I don’t believe the voters are in the mood for a replay of the discord evidenced in previous legislative sessions. This time there must be cooperation between Governor Riley and his folks and the Legislative leadership. There must also be more than token cooperation between Democrats and Republicans in the Legislative process.